Maine Environmental NewsAnnouncement - Sunday, March 18, 2018 Thanks for visiting Maine Environmental News, a service of RESTORE: The North Woods. MEN is the most comprehensive online source available for links to Maine conservation and natural resource news and events. We have posted summaries and links to over 50,000 news articles and announcements. We also post breaking stories and exclusives. Be sure to check not only today's news, but take a look at the headlines from the past several days as well. Articles often come to our attention a few days after they are published. Follow us on Twitter @MaineEnviroNews. ~ Jym St. Pierre, Editor

Growing More Crops in Less Space, Mar 25Event - Posted - Sunday, March 18, 2018 Workshop leader Will Bonsai is director of the Scattered Project. He is best known for his work in preserving crop diversity. At St. Paul's Church, Brunswick, March 25, 2-3:30 pm, $5 donation. Sponsored by Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust.

Stand up for Federal Bird Conservation FundingAction Alert - Saturday, March 17, 2018 The proposed federal budget would gut major programs and protections for birds and their habitats. One-third of migratory bird species have already lost significant populations as threats to wildlife increase. Tell your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative to make protecting migratory birds a priority in the federal budget. ~ American Bird Conservancy

Earth Hour, Mar 24Event - Posted - Saturday, March 17, 2018 Join millions of people around the world—along with businesses, cities, and landmarks—who will turn off lights in celebration of Earth Hour. March 24, from 8:30 - 9:30 am local time.

Resist Mike Pompeo’s confirmation as Secretary of StateAction Alert - Thursday, March 15, 2018 Trump just fired Rex Tillerson, one of the few people left in his cabinet who was willing to speak out against Vladimir Putin. But even more egregious is that Trump nominated Mike Pompeo, a xenophobic, pro-torture, climate-denying war hawk, to replace Tillerson.

Protect Maine from EPA budget cutsAction Alert - Monday, March 12, 2018 There have been more than 90 of harmful amendments proposed that undermine federal safeguards to everything we rely on the EPA to protect: our air, water, climate, and wildlife.

Ask Congress to Oppose Anti-wolf RidersAction Alert - Monday, March 12, 2018 Congress will likely vote in the next two weeks on a 2018 spending bill for the Department of Interior. Because that legislation is likely to be broadly supported, anti-wolf legislators are using it as a vehicle to try to pass their otherwise unpopular attacks on wildlife. Email your senator or representative and ask that they persuade Leadership to strip these "riders" prior to the bill being voted on. ~ Endangered Species Coalition

What’s a woodlot and what do I do if I have one? Mar 19Event - Posted - Monday, March 12, 2018 Morten Moesswilde, District Forester with the Maine Forest Service, will talk about the most common considerations for landowners with 2 to 200 acres. At Belfast Library, March 19, 6 pm.

Baxter State Park Visiting ArtistAnnouncement - Sunday, March 11, 2018 Visiting Artists are asked to hold one evening program and one open studio with the public during their stay, and within one year to provide the Park with professional quality images, prints, or documents representative of their style and resulting from their experience. Dates: August 11-24, 2018. Applications due by April 20.

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Crows, bald eagles abound for bird watchers in AugustaKennebec Journal - Saturday, December 31, 2016 Lionel Quirion knows a lot about birds: how a bluejay sings, what combination of sunflower seeds and other materials will bring them to his feeder, how a Slinky can be useful in keeping squirrels away from said feeder. What he didn’t know was why there were so few seagulls flying over Hatch Hill Solid Waste Disposal Facility – a frequent gathering place for gulls – on New Year’s Eve morning.

Editorial: Rural Maine’s emerging leaders need a place where they can learn to leadBangor Daily News - Saturday, December 31, 2016 Figuring out the way forward for Maine’s rural areas is no simple, short-term matter. The reasons so many of Maine’s most rural towns came into existence — because of their proximity to the woods — is no longer an advantage that guarantees a role for them in the knowledge- and service-oriented economy of the 21st century. Economic revitalization will look different in every Maine region based on what each region has to offer that can serve as a competitive edge. But there is a major component economic comebacks, especially homegrown comebacks, will have in common: strong leadership.

Agriculture organizations reflect on 2016, look ahead to a new yearBangor Daily News - Saturday, December 31, 2016 Like everything else in 2016, agriculture in Maine faced a series of ups and downs, most notably because of a severe drought that posed a huge challenge for farmers in need of water for crops and livestock. The drought left many midsize and small-scale farmers with parched fields and struggling harvests, having to select which crops to carefully irrigate. The overall production rates of state’s major crop areas, such as potatoes, apples, blueberries and diversified vegetables, were consistent, but questions linger about what the new year’s growing season will bring.

Remembering Mainers Who Died in 2016Maine Public - Friday, December 30, 2016 As the year comes to end, we said goodbye to people close to home, in Maine, who somehow made a difference in our lives. We thought we’d lost Donn Fendler in July 1939, when Fendler, just 12 years old, got separated from his parents while hiking on Mount Katahdin. But he was found, after nine days of surviving on his wits. Journalist Phyllis Austin died this year at 75. She was the Associated Press’ first environmental writer in 1972, and went on to report and write for the former Maine Times. Townsend, an attorney, was known as the “Dean of Maine’s Conservation Community.”

Sportsmen proposing three Constitutional amendments this legislative sessionGeorge Smith BDN Outdoor News Blog - Friday, December 30, 2016 The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine's Executive Director, David Trahan, said Rep. Steve Wood is sponsoring two Constitutional amendments. One would prohibit citizen ballot initiatives on wildlife issues. The other would establish and protect the right to hunt. A third Constitutional amendment is sponsored by Rep. Ellie Espling. It would require, to qualify an initiative for the ballot, that 10% of those who voted in the last statewide election sign the petitions in each Congressional district. Also, Rep. Louis Luchini is sponsoring a bill to significantly reform the process of collecting signatures for ballot initiatives, including requiring signatures to be verified by notaries that are not paid by the campaigns, providing an online reporting system for suspected fraudulent signature gathering practices, and substantially increasing the penalties for abuses of the process. SAM is also backing a bill to ban gun owner registries.

Latest advances raise hopes for ailing timber industryAssociated Press - Friday, December 30, 2016 A new wood product that’s the buzz of the construction industry is called cross-laminated timber, or CLT, and it’s made like it sounds: rafts of 2-by-4 beams aligned in perpendicular layers, then glued – or laminated – together like a giant sandwich. The resulting panels are lighter and less energy-intensive than concrete and steel and much faster to assemble on-site than regular timber, proponents say. Because the grain in each layer is at a right angle to the one below and above it, there’s a counter-tension built into the panels that supporters say makes them strong enough to build even the tallest skyscrapers. From Maine to the Pacific Northwest, the material is sparking interest among architects, engineers and researchers. Many say it could infuse struggling forest communities with new economic growth while reducing the carbon footprint of urban construction with a renewable building material.

Greenland’s thaw melts a climate-change skepticWashington Post - Friday, December 30, 2016 The question for Andreas Muenchow, an oceanographer, is no longer whether the Petermann Ice Shelf is changing – it's how fast it could give up still more ice to the seas.

Buyer plans new uses for closed paper mill in MadisonMorning Sentinel - Friday, December 30, 2016 The paper mill in Madison, which closed in May and put about 215 people out of work, has been sold to a buyer with plans to revive it as an industrial property. The new owners plan to sell certain mill assets that are no longer usable on the property, and demolish some structures that are obsolete. Once that process is complete, the property will be remarketed for alternative industrial uses. The mill’s hydropower assets would be marketed separately from the other former mill property and mill equipment.

Maine town begins drawing energy from solar panels atop fire stationLincoln County News - Friday, December 30, 2016 The municipal solar array in Whitefield, the installation threatened by uncertainty surrounding net metering, is now fully operational. The 18.72-kilowatt system on the municipal fire station is expected to generate 25,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually. The system went online about a week ago, according to Richard Simon of The Power Co., which owns the installation. Whitefield has a lease-purchase agreement with The Power Co.

Firms that sell off manufacturing gear buy shuttered Maine millBangor Daily News - Friday, December 30, 2016 Three industrial asset liquidators have purchased UPM-Kymmene Inc.’s shuttered Madison Paper mill for an undisclosed price, saying they plan to sell off some assets and later market the property to industrial users. Mill owners UPM and New York Times Co. subsidiary Northern SC Paper Corp. announced the sale Friday to a joint venture of New Mill Capital Holdings of New York, Perry Videx of New Jersey and Infinity Asset Solutions of Toronto. The sale of the mill equipment and land closed Dec. 29. The mill stopped production in May, laying off 214 workers, and was Maine’s fifth major paper mill closure in three years.

Signs of serious global warming impacts piled up in 2016Summit Voice - Friday, December 30, 2016 There wasn’t any relief from a wave of worrisome global warming news in 2016, including a study from Harvard showing how rising temperatures will send ozone levels surging to dangerous highs across parts of the U.S. Despite global efforts to curb global warming, federal climate trackers reported that concentrations heat-trapping pollution are increasing at an accelerating pace in Earth’s atmosphere.

Letter: Tax carbon emissionsBangor Daily News - Friday, December 30, 2016 How many businesses will be forced into a similar fate as the Lincolnville Lobster Pound, which was forced to close its doors after nine decades in part due to the drastic increase in the yearly cost of flood insurance? There is a nonpartisan, job-creating, market-stimulating answer to the underlying problem of climate change. A carbon fee and dividend places a tax, or fee, on fossil fuels at the source and returns the money as a dividend to citizens. President-elect Donald Trump professes to be a brilliant businessman. Therefore, he should easily see the many benefits of a carbon fee and dividend. It will create jobs and reduce regulations, and it is a market-based solution to the biggest threat we face as a nation: climate change. ~ Connie Potvin, Hampden

Study: Make big changes to energy rules to aid Maine’s struggling loggersBangor Daily News - Thursday, December 29, 2016 A group that studied Maine’s biomass industry has recommended that lawmakers extend state renewable energy purchasing requirements and urged policymakers to take a broad view of the state’s forest economy for ways to help. That includes recommendations that call for broad changes to the state’s energy policy that chip away at monopolies held by existing electric utilities.

Maine Family Opens North America's First Edible-Insect-Only MarketMaine Public - Thursday, December 29, 2016 With growing concerns over climate change, some experts say it’s only a matter of time before we invite our six legged friends onto the dinner table. One family in Maine is taking that message to heart, and getting ahead of the trend with a fledgling entomophagy business and bug farm. Susan Broadbent co-owns EntoMarket in Auburn, along with her brother Bill Broadbent. The pair launched the business a little over a year ago and, as far as they know, it’s the first marketplace in North America exclusively devoted to edible insects, something they hope will take off.

Wardens Urge Safety as Snowmobile Season Ramps UpMaine Public - Thursday, December 29, 2016 With new snowfall over much of the state and a holiday weekend, the Maine Warden Service is joining with the Maine Snowmobile Association to urge safety on the state’s thousands of miles of trails. Maine has over 14,000 miles of snowmobile trails and on average about 73,000 snowmobiles registered for use in the state.

Maine’s attorney general signs letter to Trump on climate changeAssociated Press - Thursday, December 29, 2016 Two weeks after officials in two dozen states asked President-elect Donald Trump to kill one of President Obama’s signature plans to curb global warming, another group of state officials is urging Trump to save it. Democratic attorneys general in 15 states, including Maine, plus four cities and counties sent a letter to Trump asking him to preserve Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

Snowmobilers hoping for a snow-packed seasonBangor Daily News - Thursday, December 29, 2016 Aroostook County snowmobilers are experiencing what Maine Snowmobile Association Executive Director Bob Meyers was hoping the rest of Maine would soon see — a good old-fashioned winter. That means temperatures of zero to 20 degrees Fahrenheit and deep, powdery snow that melts little until springtime.

Warden Buuck shoots injured buckGeorge Smith BDN Outdoor News Blog - Thursday, December 29, 2016 The injured buck in our wood shed was clearing hurting, unable to move. I called our local game warden, Ethan Buuck. He came right over. Ethan quietly walked up between the piles of wood, pulled out his pistol, and shot the deer, putting him out of his misery. As the buck had crawled away from us, we could all see his mangled right rear leg, and decided he must have been hit by a motor vehicle.

Opinion: Bucksport is writing its future after the mill closure, and it’s an optimistic storyBangor Daily News - Thursday, December 29, 2016 In December 2014, a huge chapter in the history of Bucksport closed forever. The Verso mill ceased paper production, taking with it decades of papermaking history, the livelihoods of hundreds of people and 40 percent of the town’s tax base. It left the community in shock and fearful for the future. But out of the shadow of the mill, the light began to shine on other aspects of the community. More businesses opened on Main Street and membership is growing in the local chamber of commerce. The local marina, purchased by the town in 2013, is thriving. People are moving to Bucksport from other areas of Maine and from out of state. The arts have emerged as a vital part of the community. The biggest things Bucksport has going for it are its momentum and community spirit. ~ Susan Lessard, town manager, Bucksport

Blog: Incentivizing solar might be good, but not if I’m personally funding itBangor Daily News - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 I understand that a healthy solar power industry is part of a diversified renewable energy portfolio and a way to help diversify the Maine economy. So it makes sense that government should help the market develop and grow. It just doesn’t make sense to come to me as a funding source, which, if I understand the net metering program correctly, is what currently happens. ~ Patricia Callahan

Lack of population growth hampers northern New England’s economic vitalityAssociated Press - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 The most recent statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau show that Maine’s population grew by 2,026 last year, to just over 1.3 million. But there were 1,300 more deaths than births. Maine, whose residents have the oldest median age in the nation, has seen enough in-migration to create a small net increase in population in the past year but more needs to be done to bring young people into the state, said Maine’s state economist, Amanda Rector. In recent years, international migration has helped to offset more serious population declines.

LePage’s top attorney leaving administration for private practicePortland Press Herald - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 The top lawyer for the LePage administration, Avery Day, has left state government for private practice. Day took the post in the Governor’s Office in March of 2015. He also served as LePage’s policy adviser on environmental and natural resource issues and served as interim commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection.

Land trust expands public access to coast in 2016Village Soup Gazette (Knox County & Penobscot Bay) - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 In 2016 Maine Coast Heritage Trust, a statewide land conservation organization made significant investments in expanding and improving public access to the Maine coast. In Tenants Harbor, MCHT completed the conservation of High Island, assuring that the tradition of the Blueberry Cove 4H camp can continue for young campers. The island will also have permanent public access for those wishing to enjoy the shoreline and new trails.

Turkey populations are out of controlGeorge Smith BDN Outdoor News Blog - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 DIF&W estimates that no more than 5,000 hunters pursued turkeys last fall, and a total of less than 20,000 purchased turkey hunting permits. I think the best strategy for recruiting more turkey hunters is to eliminate the required permit and fee, and let other hunters – especially grouse hunters – shoot a turkey when they see one while pursuing grouse.

Photographer’s ‘Enchanted Forest’ to grace 2017 Acadia National Park passAcadia On My Mind Blog - Wednesday, December 28, 2016 It was foggy, drizzly and raw in early December, not the best weather for being outside. But to John Kaznecki, it turned out to be a near-perfect day for a photo of Acadia National Park. A self-taught photographer, Kaznecki said he attempts to capture with his lens what others might miss in Acadia. And now that rainy-day photo will be on the 2017 Acadia National Park pass.